Kerala Startups Hold Big Scope in Developing e-vehicles: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

KOCHI:
Startups in the country must make best use of a flurry of global opportunities in the post-Covid era by tapping the particularly vast potential in electronics, Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar said today.

Kerala, with its core ability in electronics system design, must focus more on that field alongside electronic vehicles, he said after a visit to the Integrated Startup Complex (ISC) near this city. “The state has proved it high quality in electronics; only that its startups have to scale up the marketing,” the Minister, who holds the portfolios of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, noted after a two-hour round of the Technology Innovation Zone of the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at the ISC in Kalamassery, 20 km north of Kochi.

Given that Indian startups have risen largely in the domain of software, the Maker Village at ISC can make valuable contributions as an electronics hardware innovator under Kerala Startup Mission, Chandrasekhar noted. Innovators must be encouraged to design high-quality electronic systems by using indigenously developed chips. “For this, the government is keen to provide financial aid,” said the Minister, who also visited Maker Village in Technology Innovation Zone.

Along with delegates comprising scientists and other senior officials MeitY, the Minister interacted with the incubated startups under KSUM and other stakeholders in the startup ecosystem.

Chandrasekhar noted that electric vehicles provide entrepreneurs immense scope for development, as this facility is yet to strengthen in the country. Pointing out that electric vehicles rely heavily on electronics, he called upon entrepreneurs in the country to explore the product’s international market when the domain is in infancy in most other countries of the world.

“Entrepreneurs should not get stuck in just ideas and models. They must equally concentrate on how to sell their products,” the Minister said. In each of the past eleven months, the country has been seeing the emergence of a unicorn. Tuning into the Prime Minister’s vision on Digital India and one-trillion-dollar digital economy, Kerala too must join in generating such companies with a value of over one billion US dollars, for the state to boost its startup ecosystem, he added.

Among those who interacted with Shri Chandrasekhar included heads of KSUM, Maker Village, IIITM-K and Digital University of Kerala.

Further, the Minister visited the Internet of Things Excellence Centre jointly hosted by KSUM, Maker Village, Digital University of Kerala and Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET). He also interacted with startup entrepreneurs and took a round of KSUM’s SuperFablab besides the stalls that exhibited the products of firms incubating under KSUM.

KSUM Chief Executive Officer John M. Thomas, Maker Village CEO Nizamuddin Mohammed, Kerala Digital University Vice-Chancellor Dr Saji Gopinath, IIITK-M Chairman Madhavan Nambiar, KSITIL Managing Director Santhosh Babu and former Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarrajan.